Telephone call fee indicator



G. BINIEK Feb. 14, 1939.

TELEPHONE CALL FEE INDICATOR Filed July 27, 1956 nu M IN V ENTOR.

GEORG BINIEK ZCM A TTORNEY.

Patented Feb. 14, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,141,233 TELEPHONEcan. FEE mmca'roa Application July 27, 1936, Serial No. 92,805 InGermany August 21, 1935 8 Claims. (Cl. ass-130i In hotels and otherpremises the proprietor of a. telephone connected to an automaticexchange has frequently to allow his guests the use of the telephone forsetting up high valued calls. It

is therefore desirable to know immediately on the termination of thecall to what extent the guest is indebted to the proprietor. The feeindicator, according to the invention, which is connected to theexchange line but is preferably separate from the telephone set and is,for example, situated with a person supervising the call, has beendeveloped for this purpose. According to the value of a call, impulsesare registered in the time-zone equipment of the automatic exchange andafter the termination of the call are automatically transmitted to thecontrol magnet of the fee indicator. This displaces indicating membersin accordance with the number of impulses received so that thesupervisory party is in 'a position to read off the call fee immediatelyand to inform the person making the call.

According to the invention means are provided at the fee indicator whichenable the supervising party to return the register drum from its setposition to rest without rendering it possible for him to influence theregister device in any other way,for example, to his advantage. This isachieved according to the invention in that on the transmission ofimpulses from the exchange devices for indicating the fee on theregister drum, a locking lever associated with the restoring devicewhich is operated by hand is moved out of action and returns to thelocking position again automatically when the indicating device has beenrestored to normal. On initiating the manually operated restoring motionthe indicator opening in the protective cover of the fee indicator isclosed by a shutter which is only returned to its starting positionthereby disclosing the indicator opening after the indicator memberhas'been completely returned to zero.

The drawing represents an embodiment of a fee indicator according to theinvention.

Fig. 1 shows a projection of the fee indicator with the protective coverremoved at the sides.

Fig. 2 shows a projection of the mechanism of the feed indicator on aconsiderably enlarged scale.

The impulses communicated to the control magnet I from the time-zoneequipment in the automatic exchange (not shown) after the termination ofa conversation operate the armature 2. By means of its impulse pawl 3 itaccordingly carried round. Its cam 8 thereupon presses back the lockinglever 10 by means of pin 9, the lever being held in this position by afurther locking lever II which becomes locked against the extension l2of the pin 9 until the register drums 4 and 5 have been restored to thezero position. On the tenth impulse the drum 4 (drum 4 shows the feed inmarks and drum 5 in pfennigs) is also advanced a step forward in knownmanner by way of. the toothed segment 13 on drum 5, the rigidlyconnected pinions i4 and I5 and the toothed rim l6 on the drum 4.

As is shown for example in Fig. 1 the electromagnet received ll impulsesfrom the exchange.- In the indicating opening ll. of the protectivecontainer Hi the mark drum 4 stands on 1 while the pfennig drumindicates '70. After the amount of the fee for example 1.70 marks hasbeen communicated to the calling party by the person supervising thecall, the latter re-, stores the indicating device to the normalposition by rotating the knob I8 projecting through the container IS, inthe direction of the arrow. This takes place as follows:

The toothed wheel 2! rigidly mounted on the same shaft 20 as the knob I9is rotated with the knob. The pawl 25 which has a spring engagement withthe teeth 22 of the wheel 2| and which is flxedto the escapementmechanism 23, 24 thus takes with it the locking wheel 23 and the camdisc 26 rigidly connected with it. Pawl 24 of the escapement mechanismacts as a retarding device which permits a step-by-step rotation oflocking wheel 23 when the knob 19 is rotated by hand in the direction ofthe arrow. It will be noted that that part of the pawl 24 to the left ofthe shaft on which it is mounted is larger and therefore heavier thanthe right-hand end of the pawl, consequently the pawl is held in theposition shown in the drawing by the force of gravity. When the knob I9is turned manually, in a direction indicated by the arrow, carrying withit the ratchet wheel 23, the lefthand end of pawl 24 is forced to rideup over the top of the next tooth of the ratchet wheel. When this occursthe right-hand end of the pawl 24 is forced into engagement with a succeeding tooth thus arresting the motion of the ratchet wheel 23, and theknob 19 to which it is coupled, after it has moved one step. At thistime the pressure exerted on the knob I9 mainwhich.w is rigidly attachedto and forms a part tains the right-hand end of the pawl 24 inengagement with the front of a tooth of the ratchet wheel 23, with theleft-hand end of the pawl 23 elevated and disengaged from the ratchetwheel. It is now necessary to release the pressure on the knob i9 topermit the left end of the pawl 24 to drop into engagement with theratchet wheel. When this occurs, the knob It! may again be turned toadvance the ratchet wheel another'step. This interaction between theratchet wheel 23 and the pawl 24, which is similar to the escapementaction of a clock,

continues until the lever 2! is permitted to drop into the notch 28 inthe disc 28, upon which, further motion of the knob is is prevented bythe action of projection 35, on shutter 3|, and the lever in, as will behereinafter described. The increased weight of the left-hand end of thepawl 24 is provided by a protuberance 4'5,

of the pawl24; -.-.'I:he lever 21 is accordingly moved out of thedepreSsFdn'ZLin the cam disc 26 and pivots about the rod 23. Therotation of the lever 27 promotes four further operations:

1. The arm 33 raises the shutter St on the pin 32 against the pull ofthe spring 33 and closes the indicator aperture H. The shutter 3iremains behind the opening I! until the lever 27, after acomplete-revolution of the cam disc 25, again sinks into the depression28. Rotating the knob i3 backwards cannot-influence the mechanism forthe pawl 25 then slides over or moves out of engagement with the teeth22 of the wheel 2!.

2. The projection m directed toward the armature 2 presses the armaturebackslightlyand thus withdraws the impulse pawl 3 from the teeth of thedriving wheel 6. This prevents any jamming of the mechanism in the eventof the magnet receiving an impulse during the resetting of theindicator.

3. The bush 33 afiixed to the lever 27 serves as a mounting for theshaft 35 on which the pinions l4 and I5 are rigidly fixed. When thelever is displaced the pinions are moved out of engagement with theadvancing teeth I3, Id, of the register drums ti and 5.

4. An extension 36 of the lever 2'! depresses the springs 37 into theteeth 38 and 33 on the register drums 4 and 5 to act as a detent toprevent any undesirable motion or over running of the drums on thereturn to the zero position.

Only when the lever 27 has effected the four operations set out above dothe register drums return to normal. These drums are rotatably mountedon the shaft 40 rigidly fixed to the cam disc 26. At the sides of theregister drums are arranged the discs 4| and 42 which are rigidlymounted on the shaft 40 and at their periphery engage pawls 43 and 44which have spring attachments to the sides of the register drums. On therotation of the knob H9 in the direction of the arrow, thediscs 4| and42 are carried 'round and bring the register drums 4 and 5 to rest bythe pawls 43 and 44 springing into their recesses in the said discs. Thelever 21 then drops into the depression 28 in the cam disc 26 and theprecautionary devices described in paragraphs 1 to 4 above are restored.The shutter 3! is also withdrawn to its original position by spring 33and the indicator aperture I I is once more visible. When the shutter 3|is first raised to its operatedposition as described under (1), above,the projection 45 which is rigidly fastened, at one end, to theright-hand arm of the shutter and extending beyond the plane of latch H,at the other end, engages the lower surface of latch H, thus raising itout of engagement with the pin H2. The locking lever i0 is now drawninward by the spring associated therewith until the rod 9 engages thesurface of the cam disc I, the projection 45 and the latch H remainingin an elevated position; When now the lever 21! is permitted to dropinto the depression 28 of disc 26, the shutter 3| carrying with it theprojection 35 is permitted to drop. The projection 415 rides downwardover the raised surface of locking lever l0 and is thereupon V latchedinto position. Since now the shutter 3! is locked in position by theprojection 45 and the locking lever id, the lever 21 cannot be moved outof the depression 28. Therefore the disc 23 cannot be turned and furthermotion of the knob IS in the direction of the arrow is thus prevented.In this position the shutter engages I with the locking lever in by wayof a projection 45 fixed to the shutter thus preventing further rotationof the knob in the direction of the arrow. As previously mentioned,on'setting the register drum 5 the lever in is displaced by therestoring means normally locked against operation for restoring saidregistering means to normal position, and a locking lever displaced inresponse to the operation of said registering means for unlocking saidrestoring means to permit manual operation thereof and for automaticallyrelocking said restoring means after said registering means have beenstored to normal position.

2. In a registering device as claimed in claim 1 including a rotatableknob for manually operating said restoring means, a cam disc rotated bythe manual operation of said knob, a lever displaced in response to therotation of said cam disc, and a shutter operated in front of saidregistering means responsive to the displacement of said lever.

3. In a registering device as claimed in claim 1 including a rotatablecam disc having a norcompletely re mal position in said restoring means,said cam disc operated in response to the operation of said restoringmeans for restoring said registering means, a shutter having a normalposition, a lever operated by said cam disc for moving said shutter fromnormal position to a position in front of said registering means, andmeans including said lever for returning said shutter to its normalposition only when said cam disc and said registering means are restoredto normal.

4. In a registering device as claimed in claim 1 including a rotatableknob for manually operating said restoring means, and a pawl and ratchetdrive escapement mechanism coupling said knob to said restoring meansfor allowing said restoring means to be operatedin only one direction.

5. In a registering device as claimed in claim '1 including a springdetent operable into engagement with said registering means duringrestoration thereof, means for disengaging said register operating meansduring restoration of said registering means, and a lever operated inremamas sponse to the operation of said restoring means for operatingsaid spring detent and said disengaging meflm- 6. In a registeringdevice as claimed in claim -1 including a cam disc operated in responseto the operation of said registering means for displacing said lockinglever to unlocl; said restoring means, and a second lever formaintaining said locking lever in displaced position during therestoring operation.

'1. In a registering device as claimed in claim 1 including a shutterhaving a projection normally-engaged and locked by said locking leverfor maintaining said restoring means locked against manual operation, acam disc operated in response to the operation of said registering meansfor displacing said locking lever from in locked engagement with saidprojection to unlock said restoring means, and a second lever formaintaining said locking lever in displaced position during therestoring operation.

8. In a registering device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said registeroperating means includes a stepping pawl and a toothed wheel connectedto said registering means, and means including a lever operated inresponse to the operation of said restoring means for disengaging saidpawl from said toothed wheel during the restoring operation.

' GEORG BINIEK.

